Decision
by IcyFantastique
Summary: Ritsuka makes a decision. The decision to run away from his abusive home. When he's lost with no where to go there's only one person who can save him...


**AN: A little violent in the beginning but I think you'll live. ;)**

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Ritsuka ran. He ran fast as he could through the thick and heavy rain which pelted him from above. Curse the weathers bad timing. It had decided to let loose right after he made the biggest decision of his life…the decision to run away.

For years he'd lived in that god awful house. Even before Seimei had died things had always been rough for him. Misaki, his mother, had always been this way. Even when Ritsuka was still…Ritsuka, he'd hear from Seimei that their mother was always insane. She'd only become really bad when Ritsuka had lost his memories and their father started coming home less and less. Ritsuka understood his mother's pain to an extent. She'd lost her beloved son and gained a new one whom she did not know anything about, all she knew was that he had replaced the son she had loved so dearly and cherished with all her heart. Her husband was a cold man with little love give and only returned home to change his clothes and take showers. The rest of the time he was at work or getting drunk and spending his nights with his secretaries instead of at home with his wife and children. This would be enough to drive any sane woman to the brink of insanity. For this reason Ritsuka had always stayed by his mother's side. Even when she beat him so terribly that he could barely move, or when she screamed that she hated him and wanted him dead, he still refused to leave her. She was all he had left. Seimei was dead and his father was scum…

But tonight had been the last straw. It was what broke the camel's back and forced him to make this brash decision, the same decision that Soubi had been begging him to make for years now. To run away and leave Misaki to her own devices.

Misaki had been drinking heavily tonight. Ritsuka knew his mother rarely drank alcohol and something must have been terribly wrong for her to turn to the old bottle of Jin kept in the locked liquor cabinet. By the time he arrived home from his part time job, there was only a swallow left in the bottle and the entire kitchen stank of alcohol. It made his stomach churn.

Ritsuka searched the house after finding the bottle of Jin in the kitchen. His mother was no where to be found until he reached the bathroom. There she lay, slumped over the edge of the bath tub with the foul stink of Jin and vomit clinging to her clothes and skin.

"Mother…" Ritsuka sighed at the sight. She was practically unconscious.

"S-Seim-mei?" She whimpered from the tub. Weakly she lifted her head from the porcelain tub to see who had called her name. When she spotted Ritsuka standing in the doorway she instantly turned violent. Her eyes clouded with anger and immediately she was on her feet screaming. "What are you doing here? Where is my Ritsuka? My Seimei? Where are they? GIVE THEM BACK!" she reached from the closest thing to throw at him. It just so happened to be a glass soap dish that sat on the sink counter. She chucked it at him with amazing force, given her current drunken state, and watched with satisfaction as it hit him dead in face.

Ritsuka yelped in shock, not expecting his mother to even be able to lift her head let alone stand and throw a soap dish at him. He quickly clutched at his throbbing nose before he noticed the warm liquid which now flowed freely into his hand.

"Damn." He grumbled.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" Misaki screeched again as she reached for another object to throw. This time it was a glass bottle of perfume that had yet to be opened.

Ritsuka knew that Misaki was practically inconsolable when she was in this type of state. It was best to just let her do as she like. Eventually she would get tired of the beating and would slunk off to her room for a nap. At that time Ritsuka could take the opportunity to high tail it to Soubi's, as he always did after these times with his mother.

Ritsuka's thoughts were interrupted as the perfume bottle smacked against his forehead and shattered. Luckily none of the shards got into his eyes but the perfume dripped down his face and burned at the cuts which had been left from the glass. He cried painfully before backing out of the bathroom and falling on his bum.

"You are not my son! Where is he? Where is Ritsuka?" Misaki came at him again, this time with just her fists and feet.

The physical beating only lasted about five minutes before Ritsuka could tell that his own mother's hands and feet were becoming sore from the hitting and kicking. Misaki backed off for a moment, rubbing her hands that burned from the beating of her son.

"Are you ready to give them back yet? Where are they? My Ritsuka? My Seimei? What have you done with them?"

Ritsuka coughed harshly onto the ground, blood spat out from biting his tongue after she'd smacked him across the face. "I-I am Ritsuka m-mother. S-Seimei is d-dead."

"NO! YOU LIAR! YOU LIAR! GIVE THEM BACK!" and it started again. This time however, Misaki yanked a lamp cord from the wall and proceeded to whip him with it.

Ritsuka screamed, cried, pleaded, begged for his mother to stop. This was the worse his mother had ever beat him before. It was probably due to the drunken haze she was in but still…

Finally after what seemed like forever, but in actuality was probably only ten minutes, Misaki stopped the ruthless beating of her son, dropped the lamp cord and broke down into sobs.

"Y-you took t-them! M-my boys! I-I have no o-one! G-give t-them back!" Misaki collapsed onto the floor in a heap of weeps and proceeded to begin screaming out Seimei's name.

Ritsuka couldn't respond, couldn't move, couldn't even open his eyes. He just listened to his mother's pathetic sobs until finally it quieted and then there was silence. Ritsuka opened on eye and saw that his mother had fallen asleep right there in the center of the floor.

Ritsuka thanked every God, Deity, or spirit he knew of and the dragged himself to his feet. There wasn't a doubt in his mid that his nose was broken and that few of his ribs were cracked. He could feel it. The sharp pain that kept jabbing at him even when he was completely still.

Ritsuka slowly limped over to where his cell phone lay on the floor. During the struggle with his mother it had fallen out of his jacket pocket. The small red light on the front was blinking rapidly, signaling he had a text message. Ritsuka slowly picked up the phone and flipped it open. A small box flashed on the screen. _13 new messages._ All from Soubi.

Ritsuka didn't bother reading most of them, simply skimmed through the first couple and got the gist of what the rest said. The first five or so were simple "How are you?" "Want to come over?" Types of messages but then they began to get frantic. "Are you alright?" "Ritsuka do you want me to come over?" "Is your mother hurting you again?"

Ritsuka snapped the phone shut and stuffed it back into his pocket. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. Even Soubi.

Ritsuka slowly and painfully made his way up the stairs, that seemed much taller than usual, and entered his room at the top. He was leaving. He couldn't take this abuse anymore. His mother, the woman who'd birthed him and raised him and claimed to love him, had done this. Beat him so hard that his ribs were cracked and his nose was broken. That the black and blue bruises covered every visible and invisible part of his body. Cuts and scars now littered his once unmarred smooth skin.

Ritsuka pulled out a duffle bag from his closet and started packing. He didn't where he would go. He didn't have any place in mind and he didn't have any money. All the money he'd earned from his part time job went to buying medicines for his mother and making sure that there was food in the house. His father had stopped financially supporting them long ago and since his mother was unfit to work it was up to Ritsuka to fill the role of a working parent. However, with school in the way Ritsuka could only manage a simple part time job at Seven-eleven. It was enough to buy the weekly groceries and the sleeping pills that his mother required.

Ritsuka only packed the essentials. A weeks worth of clothes, his toothbrush and toothpaste, a hairbrush, his camera, the pictures that were tacked onto his quark board, and one single framed photo of a happier time with him, Seimei, and their mother and father all standing outside their old home smiling cheerfully at the camera. Ritsuka couldn't remember when this photo was taken. It was back when the old Ritsuka still existed. It was the only photo besides some old baby ones that Ritsuka had of the old him. Misaki had never been one for taking photos.

Ritsuka quickly shoved the frame into the bag and zipped it closed. He then hurriedly grabbed the first aid kit that he kept conveniently in his closet and bandaged his nose. His ribs could wait, he just didn't want blood leaking as he walked.

When Ritsuka was all bandaged and packed he swung the duffle over his shoulder and headed out. As he passed his mother, she was still in the same position on the floor where he'd left her passed out. He felt only a small bit of sadness as he walked out the front door leaving his mother behind. He could only imagine how she'd react when she awoke to find Ritsuka gone. Maybe she'd be relieved, or maybe she'd be sad, or perhaps angry? Ritsuka didn't know, his mother was so unpredictable.

Suddenly, as Ritsuka pondered his mother's reaction, he felt something wet plot onto his face. Then another…and another. Ritsuka groaned and looked towards the sky. It was raining. Great.

Ritsuka began walking faster down the empty streets. He had no idea where to go. Yayoi was out on vacation with his family in Kyoto and Yuiko had moved awhile ago to Osaka to take care of her sick grandparents.

Just then Ritsuka's cell vibrated in his pocket. Someone was calling him. It was probably Soubi. As Ritsuka pulled out his phone he noticed that the blinking red light was blinking in pattern. A staccato like pattern that Ritsuka had picked specially to let him know that it was Soubi on the other end.

Ritsuka stopped running and stared at the phone for a moment. The rain continued pelting him, not letting up a bit. Finally, hesitantly, Ritsuka flipped open the phone.

"Hello?"

"_Ritsuka? Ritsuka are you alright? I've been texting you but you haven't answered."_

Ritsuka didn't respond. He didn't know what to say. Tell Soubi that his mother had beaten the crap out of him _again_ after Soubi had so many times before practically begged him to move out of that house. How embarrassing.

"Sorry…I was…doing homework." was what Ritsuka finally decided to say.

There was a pause on Soubi's end before he said. _"She did it again didn't she?"_

Ritsuka sighed but said nothing. That was all that Soubi needed to confirm what had happened.

"_Where are you Ritsuka?"_ His deep gentle voice asked through the phone. _"I'll come and get you."_

Ritsuka glanced around at his surroundings…he didn't know. He'd just run as fast as he could from that house and hadn't really cared which direction he was traveling. "Um…I don't know."

Soubi sighed on the other end. _"Alright just stay where you are. I'll be there as soon as I can." _and then the line went dead.

XXXX

It didn't take long for a yellow taxi to pull up in front of Ritsuka. He'd been standing at a bus stop under the roof that hung over the bench. A few moments later Soubi was out of the car had had Ritsuka in his arms, hugging him to death.

"Ow! Soubi m-my nose!" Ritsuka yelped from the safety of the blonde's arms.

Soubi immediately let go of the cat eared boy and looked intensely at the wrapped nose. "That looks broken." He mused. Soubi suddenly wrapped an arm around Ritsuka's shoulders and led him through the ran to the taxi. "Get in. I'll take care of your wounds when we get to my place." Ritsuka nodded and slid into the car with Soubi right behind him.

"Back your place Agatsuma-san?" the female taxi driver asked politely.

"Yes please Hana-san."

Ritsuka looked up at Soubi suspiciously. "You know her by first name?"

Soubi chuckled softly at Ritsuka's obvious jealously. "We used to share a few classes together."

"O-oh." Ritsuka felt a bit silly. Soubi had long since graduated from the university and was considered a professional artist. He'd gotten a few jobs and sold a couple paintings in his time out of the university but nothing amazing had come up yet.

The rest of the drive to Soubi's apartment was silent. When they arrived, Soubi paid Hana her money and kindly waved goodbye as she drove off, then the two headed inside.

Youji and Natsuo were fast asleep on the queen sized bed that once belonged to Soubi. The two didn't even stir in the slightest as Soubi led Ritsuka to his room. Soubi's room was rather plain. The walls were left unpainted like the rest of the house. Just wood. He had a single bed with pale blue sheets and one pillow. There was a canvas in the corner of the room with a painting that looked half done and a hamper just opposite of it. Other than that the room was void of anything exciting.

"Sit here, I'll go get the first aid kit." Soubi murmured as he pushed Ritsuka down onto the bed.

Ritsuka watched as Soubi disappeared back through the door. Silence ensued. Ritsuka didn't like the silence. It felt odd to have quiet in Soubi's apartment. Usually there was always screaming and distinct crashes of things breaking. Between the two zeros that lived there permanently and Kio who might as well have just moved in, thing were always hectic in Soubi's house. It must have been later than Ritsuka had originally thought. Kio wasn't there and the zeros were already in bed. Curious, Ritsuka pulled out his cell phone and checked the time. It was well past one in the morning, nearly two. Ritsuka blinked at the glowing screen. He had lost track of time…how long had he been wandering the streets before Soubi had called him? He didn't know. It was already dark when he left the house…

"-suka? Ritsuka?"

Ritsuka was brought out of his thoughts by the soft deep voice…Soubi. He glanced up to see Soubi standing right in front of him, holding the first aid kit.

"Ritsuka are you ok?" he asked gently.

"Oh…yes sorry. I just didn't realize how late it was." Ritsuka answered, putting his cell phone back into his pocket.

Soubi nodded as he kneeled onto the floor in front of Ritsuka. "Yes, you had me quite worried. I knew you had work tonight so I knew you were still up but you weren't answering my texts…"

Ritsuka instantly felt bad for ignoring Soubi's earlier attempts to get a hold of him. "Sorry…I was kind of busy."

Soubi's eyes instantly turned fierce as he began unwrapping Ritsuka's nose. "Busy getting beaten you mean?"

Ritsuka didn't answer. It was true. He knew it, Soubi knew it, everyone knew it was true. People had been trying to get him out of the situation for years, even the zeros, Natsuo and Youji, had attempted to help him out of his abusive home but he'd rejected their tries and insisted that he didn't mind.

Soubi eyed the duffle bag full of clothes that had been tossed on the floor. Soubi said nothing about it. He figured when Ritsuka was ready to talk about it, he would. Instead Soubi gently prodded at the bruised nose. It was definitely broken. He quickly got to work. He set it back in place before rewrapping it in fresh bandages. There was silence for a long time. Soubi worked quickly and efficiently as Ritsuka sat silently allowing him to do so.

Finally, as Soubi put a bandage over the last cut on his face, Ritsuka spoke. "You know…I ran away."

Soubi's eyes traveled back to the filled duffle bag before returning to Ritsuka's face. "I noticed."

Ritsuka sighed sadly. "I have no where to go. I haven't got any money to rent an apartment, Yayoi is on vacation and Yuiko is in Osaka with her grandparents…" Ritsuka trailed off.

Soubi's eyes widened at the cat boy's words. "Ritsuka…what are you talking about?"

Ritsuka's ears drooped as he stared down in the Soubi's blue eyes. "I haven't anywhere to go Soubi…would you mind if I…stayed here for awhile until I get enough money for my own place?"

Soubi was shocked into silence. Did the boy honestly think he'd say no? "Ritsuka…I can't believe you even thought you had to ask. You are always welcome here. This apartment is as much yours as it is mine or Natsuo and Youji's. I would be honored if you moved in with me."

A small smile graced Ritsuka's face as he spoke again. "I didn't want to burden you. I'm always running to you after my mom…hurts me. It's my own fault that it happens. I could have left ages ago but I stayed and let her do those things to me. I didn't want to…leave her alone. She's so lonely Soubi. She doesn't have anyone. Seimei is dead and dad doesn't come home anymore. All she had was me."

Soubi gently ran his hands through Ritsuka's soft black hair. Soubi understood Ritsuka's reasoning for staying with his mother as long as he had. They were all each other had. Even when Misaki would throw painful hits and cruel words at Ritsuka, he still stayed and refused to leave because his mother was the only thing he had left to cling onto. All he had left of his previous life as the "original" Ritsuka. It was only natural to want to hang onto that.

"It's ok Ritsuka. I'll call an ambulance tomorrow for her. They can get her the help she needs." Soubi soothed as he softly ran his fingers down and caressed the boy's cheeks.

Ritsuka leaned into Soubi's gentle touches and strokes. These feelings were so foreign to Ritsuka. Soubi had always spouted nonsense about loving him and that he would do anything for him but he'd never honestly believed the blonde fighter. Soubi had lied to him before…but now Ritsuka knew the love Soubi had spoken of was true. It had always been there, Ritsuka had just chosen to ignore it. The only other person who ever treated him this way was Seimei and he was gone along with these feelings. It was nice to have them again.

"Soubi…thank you." Ritsuka whispered softly.

Soubi smiled gently at his little sacrifice and laid him down onto the fluffy bed. "It's my pleasure Ritsuka…I love you."

And for the first time ever being with the beautiful fighter Ritsuka softly whispered. "I love you too Soubi."

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**AN: Woohoo it's done! Spent quite awhile on this one…couldn't quite decide how I wanted it to end but finally I thought that cute little "I love you" would be a cute way it to end given all the violence that happened in the beginning. **

**Anyway leave reviews! They are a fanfic author's joy and inspiration and it let's them know they did a good job so please leave a single review! This baby was over 6 pages long I don't think a 3 word review is a lot to ask for do you?**

**REVIEWS!**


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